Patients wait for hours as Kidwai nurses strike work for 2nd day

BENGALURU: Patients waiting to undergo chemotherapy and their families queued up for hours on end at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology on Thursday, as the protest by 200 nurses and lab technicians hired on contract basis entered its second day.

Hospital authorities claimed their permanent staff worked overtime to fill in for the striking employees, but inconvenienced patients and their kin said it made little difference, especially in the labs and chemotherapy unit.

Sadat Unnisa, a

Tumakuru

woman in the eighth month of her pregnancy, was seen with her cancer-afflicted mother Shakira Banu in front of the chemotherapy ward. “We have travelled all the way from Tumakuru for my mom’s chemotherapy and have been waiting for hours. The unit has only two nurses as the others are on strike. The chemotherapy has already been delayed by a month, and we are still waiting,” she rued. With no one else available at home to take Banu to hospital, the pregnant woman had to accompany her.

Suguna M, a 61-year-old uterine cancer patient, was also seen waiting for long outside the 40-bed chemotherapy unit in the morning. “My mother is already suffering. Why can’t they (the protesters) work and still make their point,” asked Deepa M, Suguna’s daughter. The patients were finally allowed to enter the unit after the hospital director intervened.

The contract employees are paid only Rs 15,000 per month. They are demanding a Rs 5,000 hike, which would bring their salary on a par with permanent nurses. The protesters, mostly women, pitched camp in front of the hospital overnight, braving the cold.

Savitha M, a nurse who has been working with Kidwai for six years, said, “My starting salary was Rs 7,500 and it is Rs 15,000 now. While prices of commodities have skyrocketed, salaries have not increased much despite the hard work we put in.”

“We are not even asking for permanent employment. When the government calls for recruitment, we will apply. But as of now, we are as good as permanent staffers. Why shouldn’t we be paid as much as them? The Supreme Court had passed a judgment on equal pay,” said another protesting nurse.

Box : High attrition: 30 nurses quit in a year

As the only government-run cancer hospital in Karnataka, Kidwai sees patients seeking affordable cancer care from across the state. However, a high attrition rate among nurses has become its bane.

During 2016-17, over 30 nurses quit their jobs in search of better opportunities. Dr K P Jagannath, resident medical officer of the hospital, admitted the attrition rate was high. “While recruiting staff on contract basis, we are not able to follow the rules we keep in mind while hiring permanent employees. When someone quits, we look into the applications of candidates and give them jobs,” he said.

Dr K B Lingegowda, director, KMIO, said the issue has been brought to the government’s notice. “It can’t be resolved overnight, and a process has to be followed. We are managing patient care with the available staff. No patient has suffered any inconvenience. We need 200 more nurses, in whose place we currently have contract nurses,” he said.